Apparatus for charging blast furnaces



Filed Sept. 1. 1928 3 1 113 J oY1\T;roi$T,;or c nci eo, ILLINOIS, AssIeNoR To B. arnAssmwa I v or c rricaeo, rumors, A CORPORATION OF iLLINOISu I I fro m a bove usually by means of a charging 1"0 bel-l 'construction, I The charge consists of 'coka ore "and a fluxingmaterial such as limesum-e; Wit-h the-u se of the normali charging bell, I the. charged material slides from the sui fac'e of the bell toward and against the T5 iri-nerperiphery -ofthe furnace chamber at thes'tock line. 'The material'is defiectedand' somefrolls down toward the center, but "the I -I'lOrmal' condition of burden in the upper; 'porr tion of the furnace is in the shape ofan Yin-' "'20 vrt 'a' cone, being 'loweii at the? center -'and;

"higher at the periphery; Itwill; be" apparent thatin this method of? charging "the larger 7 a 1 pieces oiftlie'mater-ial will "tend'to roll down V toward the center whileftheifiner particles irein'a'in adjacent thei periphery.

' The iiecessity" foi" this annular charging reee-ds fromg'cause s now wellunderstood.

,It has-"been :deterini-iied by experiment 'that,

.1 j in the normaio emuqnroi tlieblast furnace, 13 combustion takes place' f' only within a relatively'short radius "from each of the tliyeres.

fThis combustion-affects a'n approximately l wspherica l: area adjacent each of the I tuy ere's a a-11d "does not extend ,tofthei'centralportion 3,5. "o frthe charge in the; plane o'lf the" tuyeres.

Thecharge in the furnace moves downwardly, mainly beC' lS? (if "the; reduction] in vol ume caused by the conibustionat thesepoints v jiand'zthe'reds a1'soj a;n inorf m'ovementin re- 40 ,sp-e'fis' a; withdrawal-of slag and 'ofiron ream the furnace; It has been found that 1 'this flow eringordownward mojvem'ento'f the "chargetakes place in a mannersimilar to the I l o iiio ement within af circular 'bin {from which I 5 the-material is withdrawn at spaced periphv j hi's' iilve'ntion "relates tol a new and im-4 proyecl method ef operatinp; iblast furnaces," and more particularly-to a'metliod of dis-' hrrn tarus For CHARGING :BLAsr summons iA 'pplieation'fileri Septen ber 1', iszsjseriarivo." sca421. f

mum;

eral'points, 'There isofnly slight/movement" fo of the material in the center of the? furnace and'there is' a cone shaped core extending I well up into the furnace which isma'intained 'wlthout substantialginoyement during the gely composed operat on. Due to the nature of the charge 1ng,-th1s central core is la! themass of-inaterial in the furnace and it is their function in the lower portion of th'e furnace to melt 'theor'efand slagmaterial,

and in'the upper portion ofthe furnace to reduce the ore. In order to carry outfthese a functions itis necessary that the gases be a brought .intintimate conta'ct"with the Ina terialQ To accomplish this result the material should be "of substantially uniforin permeability so asto avoid channeling by the gases.

' gases do not more than slightly penetrate rise directly through the mass in theannulus above he small combustion'zones adjacent 3 In the combustion zone thecoinbustion 1 he tuyeres; The gases rise substantially i vertically until they encounter "partially -H1ll3eCl iron and slag infthe course of melting,

;At this poi-n'tthe viscosity of the mass and -its resistai1ce tothe flowo'f gases becomes a, k greater. Such melting, however, in view'of I the methods'o'fcharging now in use and the limit-ed combustion areas, ta s PlaQe ifia'n annular iZOn'e adjacentthefurnace walls. I At this point in'the upward path offthe gases wherethe resistance-in the outer zon'ebecomes greatenthe central portion, composed-mainly a of coke, ofi'ers less resistance to the'flowofthe? of the furnace at this level; This results in a,

loss of the proper heating and reducing efiect is accordingly a] tendency to torce by the gases in outer annulus containing the V greater portion of the ore. Above this point the distribution of the gases will depend on I the relative total resistance of the stock col umn at the center of-the furnace and at the sides. The effect of the usual annular chargingis to increase the density of the charge in the annulus around the sides. I 'to the presence of the ore in this annulus, the

In addition V permeability of the central core may be controlle dso' that=the proper proportion of gases- 'may be directed-through the outer annular 7 mass of material,

It is an object of the'present invention to provide a new and improved method and apparatus for the operation and'charging of [blast furnaces or thelike; I

. ,Itis a further object to'provide amethodwherebythe coke maybe sized and controlled as to the pointlof deposit in the furnace.

r It is anadditional object to provide apparatus whereby the various elements of the charge may beselectively directed towards the center, or the periphery of the furnace chamber as desired.

pg, I Itis also an object to provide a method and apparatus of this character'which are In the 1 accompanying shown somewhat diagrammatically one form simple in design andoperation and which maybe applied toand carried out with existing structuresjwithout material alterations ythereinb Other and further objects will appear as the description proceeds. f

drawings I have of apparatus for-carrying out my improved method.

. In the drawingsr Figure l'is' a fragmentary section of the upper portion of a blast furnace or the like Qwith thevcharging; bell in closed position;

Figure '2 is a-view similar to FigureLbut showing the charging bell lowered andthe deflecting members in operative position. d 1 1 In the drawings *the upper portion of the furnacehas been. designated 10 and the usual charging hopper llis shownextending into .the upper portionof the furnace. A usual type of charging bell l2 extendsup into the hopper 11 and closes the lower portion of the hopper.

r I It willbehunderstood that this showing is diagrammatic andathat any "usual form of hell controlling and operatingmeans may beutilized. Such features form'no part of T the present invention and have been omitted from the drawings for the sake of clearness.

. "Thesecondary deflecting ring 13 is. shown suspended from the bell 12 -by means of the linlrs 14. Itwill be no'tedthat while-the circumference of theupper edge of'the ring 13 is greaterthan that 151? the lower edge of the bell 12, the ring is so placed as to be out :of the pathof 'material normally flowing from the bell 12; To charge material toward the periphery of the furnace chamber the bell 12 carrying the ring 13, is lowered to. dotted line position of Figural,

The secondary deflecting member or ring" 15 is shown in Figure '1 as drawn up around the hopper 11. Any desiredmeans'may be provided for. raising and lowering this defleeting member .15. As shown in Figure 2, the ring 15 is so proportioned as tofitupon the upper edge of the. ring 13,sothat the two rings will'together forma continuousdeflect-a ing surface. The-ring-15 is thus interposed into the path of material flowing from the "bell '12'and deflectst'his material inwardly and downwardly uponthe ring 13.

In the operation of the furnace, according to my improved method, with theuse of this apparatus, the coke will be separated as to size and the larger coke willbe charged together with. the ore and .fluxing material, For the purpose of charging this material, the ring 15 will remain in the position shown in Figure 1. 'The defiectingring 13 will have no effect upon the charge which will be distributed in the usual manner. The finer coke will bejcharged separatelywith the parts in position shown in Figure 2. By this means the finer coke will be directed toward the center of the furnace so that the slowly moving column of material in the center of the furnace will have aslits maj or constituent'this finevcoke. The central column may thus be rendered no more pervious, than the surrounding annulus and the gases will be forced into the furnace The other elements of the charge may be sized and proportioned if desired, and the central and annular charging so "controlled andrelated astojgive any desired condition of the furnace charged, Y While I have shown one preferred form of described certain. methods of operation,'the methods may be carriedout inotherways, and with the use of other forms ;o f ;apparatus,

and I contemplate such changes and modifications as come I within the spirit and scope .of the appended claims,

Iclaim: I, f jf f I 1. In a blast furnace,acharging bell, an inwardly inclined idefiectingljdevice locatedav .to pass upwardly through the outer annulus apparatus for carrying out my invention, and

within the furnace belowthe bell and outof the pathof material discharged from the bell,

and means adapted to receive material'from the bell and discharge it upon the deflecting device. j I

end inwardly inclined tdefiecting member supported in the'furnace andadaptedto, be

iaj gust, 1928.-

' 21111141, Blast furnacei ai'charging bellg an inwardly inclined deflecting membe'rs'uspended. from and belowthebell, and'a see selectively brought into position in upward *prolongation, of the deflecting member s11s-- I 'pended'from the belLf Signed at:chieagqlllindigthis 29thday of I 1 

